By John Harrington

Bord Gáis Energy GAA All-Ireland U-21 Hurling Semi-Final

Galway v Dublin, Semple Stadium, 6pm.

Conor Whelan hasn’t had much time to feel sorry for himself since Galway’s All-Ireland Semi-Final defeat to Tipperary last Sunday.

He immediately had to switch his focus to the U-21 grade, where the Tribesmen face Dublin in the Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland Semi-Final today, and is doing his best to be philosophical about Galway’s exit from the senior championship.

“Look that’s sport I suppose,” said Whelan. “What can you say. It didn’t work out for us I suppose?

“The two goals were sucker punches and it didn’t leave us with much time. One goal we might have had some chance but two goals was too much to ask.

“We felt we had the match ups fairly right, but we were struggling in the forwards and everyone including myself didn’t play to the best of our abilities. If all 15 aren't on fire you are always leaving the chance you’ll come up short.

“There’s lots of thing you’d do differently. Few poor wides and poor decisions. Maybe going for goals too early when there was time to take your points but hopefully we’ll learn from it.

“There is a good crop of players there in terms of attitude and next year we will have to get going again.”

Whelan made a massive impact in his debut season with Galway last year when he was instrumental in their All-Ireland Semi-Final win over Tipp and one of their best players in the All-Ireland Final against Kilkenny.

He didn’t hit those same heights last Sunday, but accepts he shouldn’t be putting too much pressure on himself this early in his career.

“Ah sure I'm still learning, I'm only 19. Just, sure, every season is different, I suppose, and every match is different, like. It all depends on how things are going, like. When lads go off injured then the momentum changes around. You'll have good days and bad days I suppose. (Sunday) was a bad day. But hopefully Saturday it'll be a bit better.  Sure, look, every day is different, like.”

The advantage of being a Galway U-21 hurler is that you’re guaranteed an All-Ireland Semi-Final every year. The disadvantage is you go into that make or break game without a competitive match under your belt.

“Yeah, you are coming in cold,” says Whelan. “We came in cold last year and it probably took us 25 minutes before we knew where we were and by then Limerick had built up a fair lead. We brought it back to a point but in the second half then…it’s hard when you are coming in cold you don’t know what to expect.

“But at the end of the day we are still being given a serious opportunity. We are in an All-Ireland semi-final without pucking a ball. There are two sides to the going and if you win on Saturday its great and if you lose its awful but that’s the beauty of the U21s - that’s the structure - its knock out.”

Galway have won 10 All-Ireland U-21 titles whereas Dublin have yet to register a single one, but Whelan knows the Leinster Champions will  be formidable opponents today.

“They seem to be a very good team, anyway,” he said. “They fairly walked through Leinster. They took out Wexford and Offaly fairly substantially. They'll be a massive test. They'll be hot favourites, like. We'll do the best we can and we'll go from there.”